I love San Diego!

I think we are finally almost settled in! It has been a crazy few weeks, what with moving and then starting my dietetic internship last week. Eric was amazing at driving all the way from San Antonio- yes, he drove that huge 16-ft Penske truck pulling our car behind the entire way. I didn't drive one mile. And I am not complaining. That thing scared me. Everything went smoothly until we got to San Diego about a week and a half ago. As we drove into our neighborhood, we started to get a little worried as we saw how narrow and crowded the streets were.

How were we ever going to park this huge truck?! Well, after getting stuck a couple times- very stressful- we finally decided to just go to the Penske truck rental place to drop off our car carrier so we would only have the truck to worry about. My brother Edward was driving since Eric and I had to meet with our apartment management to sign our lease. As he was driving on the freeway he started to hear some strange noises and so pulled off the freeway. When he got out to see what the problem was he realized that the hitch connecting the car carrier to the truck had completely snapped. If he hadn't stopped when he did, the carrier would have come off while he was going down the freeway, which could have had frightening results. I don't even like to think what could have happened!

We did eventually get the truck back, parked, and emptied. When we drove away after dropping off the truck I breathed a big sigh of relief. The next couple of days was spent trying to get unpacked and settle in. Which was a task, let me tell you. Our little apartment is just that- little. When we walked into the apartment after unloading the truck it was hard to find a path through the huge stacks of boxes. I didn't know how we'd ever get it all to fit. But we did it! We still have pictures to hang up which will make the apartment look much more homey.

We are loving San Diego. Such a beautiful area. The beach is a 10 minute drive away (and there are so many different beaches!), we have the huge Balboa Park a short 1/2 mile jog away, and Old Town Dan Diego just a 5 minute drive away. And we haven't explored too much yet. Last night we went to a place called Sunset Cliffs. Breathtaking is the only way I can describe it. A trail went along the cliffs with waves crashing below. Just so beautiful.

Eric and I keep discovering new parts of our little town because it seems that every time we drive somewhere, we get lost. We always seem to find ourselves heading the wrong direction on the freeways or taking the wrong exit. Makes every drive a bit of an adventure. Today on the way home from church we got lost and stumbled across The Presidio which is a beautiful park with an old mission-style museum and the site of the old Fort Stockton. So we took a nice little Sunday stroll which was fun.

And tomorrow I officially start my internship. (this last week was orientation) I am a little, quite a bit actually, nervous and I really hope it goes ok. I don't know how much blogging will be happening the next few months, but I will try my best!

Our final China travels: Beijing, part one

Time for another installment in the long-delayed chronicles of the adventures of the Andersons in China. About a week and a half before leaving China for America, Eric and I set off on our 'grand tour' of China. Well, it was grand for us, though we only went to two of the countless cities in China: Beijing and Xian. Two very different places and I'd have to say, that based on our experiences in Xian, Beijing was by far the favorite. But we'll save that story for later. Beijing first. Here we go!

May 25 - May 30

We boarded an overnight train to Beijing late Monday night. We had decided to 'rough it' by taking the hard seats instead of the bed option. And was it a long night. Though still a far cry from what we experienced later in the trip on our way back to Shanghai...

Tian'anmen Square
Even though I know I've seen pictures, I had this image in my mind of what Tian'anmen Square was like. Not a bit like it. When we got there I didn't even realize we were there. I think I was picturing this huge enclosed area. It is huge, but open, and empty except for the big mausoleum for Mao Zedong. (which you can see in the background of the first picture below)


Eric in front of the National Congress Building.

A closer view of Mao's Mausoleum. An interesting place.


Gotta love the tour groups. :)


Looking towards the Forbidden City


Forbidden City

The Forbidden City. Just that name alone has always evoked fascination in me. I remember looking at pictures in the National Geographic years ago when there was an issue done on China and feeling in awe looking at them. It looked beautiful, immense, and, well, a little forbidding. And now here we were, right outside of the Forbidden City, going inside.

We happened to go when there was some sort of foreign dignitary visiting and so we were able to get some good empty pictures since a lot of the grounds were blocked off. And, thankfully, the dignitaries didn't stay too long so we were still able to go see everything. I guess when you are a 'dignitary' you are just too busy to actually see the Forbidden City. Glad I'm not one.




We found ourselves by a tour group at one point, from Malaysia I think it was,so I was able to eavesdrop and learn all sorts of interesting things. Which was fun, though Eric didn't think it was too interesting to learn about the daily rituals of the royal family. So, we moved on.




I had to include this one. Eric fits right in.

This is in front of two intertwined trees, symbolizing love. Lots of people were taking pictures in front of this, holding hands, hugging, etc. This couple, just standing there. I thought it was really cute.

We were able to wander around a lot of the side corridors and rooms-- where other officials worked and where the concubines and family lived. It was interesting to imagine being part of the royal family, spending your whole life behind these huge walls. It is like a miniature city. I don't know how much I really would have liked it.






Temple of Heaven
Built in the Ming dynasty (around 1420 AD,)the Temple of Heaven was the temple where the emperors went to worship, you got it, heaven. The emperor was regarded as the 'son of heaven' and he preformed sacrifices here to heaven on behalf of their people.

It was definitely different from other temples we have visited. The buildings are spread out-- all in a straight line but you have to walk a ways between them. The buildings are surrounded by beautiful gardens. While walking through the gardens, we stumbled across an accordion player accompanying a few older men singing. It was beautiful.


The secret emperor's door, so he wouldn't have to climb all the stairs.



I think Eric is being the bell...

Somehow, this one just makes me laugh.

This place was neat- or should have been... Supposedly, if two people stand at opposite sides of the circular wall, you can hear each other talk. It is called the Echo Wall. Unfortunately, there is a railing around the inside perimeter of the wall... No echoes anymore.

We overheard a tour guide tell her group that this is supposed to look like a birthday cake. (don't know how historically accurate that is- how many birthday cakes were there in ancient China...?)

Eric blowing out the birthday candle.



Summer Palace
If the Forbidden City was where the royal families lived, this is where they played. And I don't blame them. For as closed in and really barren looking the Forbidden City is, this amazing place is the opposite. Green, lush, stunning surroundings. And so peaceful. And we were there with hundreds of other tourists-- I can only imagine how wonderful it was with no one else there. This had to be one of our favorites places we went to in Beijing. We spent I think seven hours there and we could have gone back for another day. We loved it.






This interesting boat in the background is made out of marble. How does a marble boat float, you may ask. It doesn't. It is sitting on a concrete base. This nonfunctional boat was built under the reign of Empress Cixi. Using the funds set aside for building up a new Chinese navy, she built instead this extravagant boat for her own pleasure. Ironic, yeah?

The long corridor- over 728 meters long (2329 feet)All of those top panels are painted with different pictures on each. It was beautiful. There were these same types of paintings all throughout the Summer Palace. It would probably take hours to really look at all of them!





Olympic Park

We spent a rainy evening in Beijing exploring the Olympic Park. We got there to late to go inside anywhere but it was still really neat being able to see all the different buildings.

In front of the Bird's Nest. Eric and I had fun pretending to do whatever the building was used for. If you can't tell, I am getting ready to run a record breaking sprint.

And Eric is swimming in front of the Ice Cube.

And I am the torch.

Everything looked even cooler once it started to get dark. Unfortunately, that is right about when our camera quits working.


And this is just part of our trip to Beijing. Coming up soon, our trip to the Great Wall!

Oh the things you see when running

I love running. Most everyone knows that about me. I love it for how I feel, for the time I have to be alone and think, and for the calming effect it has on me. And I love it for the adventure it is. In China, it was an adventure just with the crazy people I'd meet on my run (Mr. Orange shirt talked about here). Here in the hill-country of Texas, it is not people I meet so much as the fun little critters.

My favorite so far? Wild boar. Yep, when I heard that rustling and snorting coming from the bushes next to me I about jumped out of my skin! And then I see this huge boar running away with little baby boars scuttling after. Number of sightings so far? Three.

And then there are the dozens of deer I meet. Some days I see over 20 of them. Sometimes, if I am lucky, I see one of the huge bucks. But they don't seem to venture out by the road too much. And right now, there are still lots of little fawns. I see sometimes five of these little guys with their mammas watching close by.

After it rains, there are tons of frogs. Mostly squished on the road, but I do see a few just hopping by.

One day I saw a huge snake coiled up on the side of the road. It was red and black and yellow. Now, I have heard that depending on the order of the colors it might be poisonous. I don't remember what this one was, but there is the possibility that I was close to getting bit by a deadly snake!

There are also these funny looking insects. Like the ones you see in books where they look like sticks. They are about 6 inches long and, well, stick-y looking.

And the birds. Beautiful birds. That is, except for all those vultures! Where I come from, you never see vultures. Here, on one of my runs, was the very first time I ever saw a vulture in real life (as far as I know. At least the first time that I recognized one). There was a whole group of them, line up on a wall about five feet from the road, staring at me. A couple more were on the ground surrounding their dinner. Creepy, definitely creepy.

All in all, its been fun. I never know what a new day will bring! And I wonder, what new adventures will I have on my runs in San Diego? Probably no wild boars...

Never ending to-do list

Do you ever feel like you head is just going to explode? This past week has felt that way every day. With Eric and me moving to San Diego in about a week and a half to start grad school for him and dietetic internship for me, it seems as if there has been a never-ending list of things we have to do. Which all seem to have to be done now. Car insurance…health insurance…professional liability insurance…apartment finding…cell phone buying…going though boxes and boxes of things we had stored at Eric’s parent’s house…buying furniture…finding a way to get that furniture we bought to California…wading through the seemingly endless pile of internship homework…getting a physical for internship… And I’m sure I’m leaving off quite a few. As of today, the majority of those have been crossed off. It will feel so good to finally feel like we have everything finished and under control. And to not have a pounding headache by 5pm every day- often sooner.

I need a weekend. Badly. Too bad most of it will be spent finishing above list. But Eric’s sister Kimberly and her little family are coming for the weekend, so one good thing to look forward to. Yay!